Speculate to Accumulate - Flogging Sand To The Arabs..

Ok.......... I aint much good at most things in life, I dont have any talents.... though, I do remember all the words to that famous British tune 'Land Of Hope And Glory' when Ive had a bottle of red wine, I dont know the words when sober LOL... may I just add here, that it has been many many years since I got rat-arsed, let alone tipsy even.....

So Im not much good at anything, I can still hear the words 'YOU GOOD FOR F'IN NUFFIN' shouted at me by my father as he boxed me ears for some misdemeaner I might have done as a child....and 'YOU'LL NEVER AMOUNT TO MUCH' LOL...

Ive failed at most things in life..... being a daughter, a wife, even a friend sometimes and often Ive failed at being a mother...

But one thing I KNOW Im good at, something I have a canny knack for and that is surviving.... and making money...... not pots of money, but enough....most things in life I look at way different from me maties.... I always wear, just under the skin, me 'business head' me 'there's gold in them there hills head'......it drives me maties mad.... but they are not, and never have been put in positions of survival, they have always had a hand to hold and family around them and a net under them to catch them if and when they fall.......... me, Ive never had that..... not even when I was married to the tosser LOL.... its hard always being everyone elses net, especially when one aint to keen on fishing lol.....

Anyways..... me, I could sell sand to the Arabs.... me maties always roll their eyes when I mention some of the ways I make that little extra bit of dosh.... but then, they wouldnt understand what drives me, no one does really..... I stand alone, not many really know ME, and they most certainly do not know about my life in years gone by or how I tick.... somethings are not for sharing until that someone special stumbles into my life....

So...... Selling sand to the arabs.....ya see, I use to own a pre-school, I sold it about 3 years ago, and I do actually now regret that decision, but tough tittie on me on that one...... but ya see, I still get the pre-school catalogues with equipment and stuff one needs to run a successful pre-school......

Three weeks or so ago a SALES CATALOGUE dropped through me door from one of the many school catalogues that I get throughout the year.... only this sales catalogue was a tad different, this one promised up to 75% off.... and I know all the stuff in the catalogues are top quality cos they are made for schools etc and are very tough and hardwearing.......



This is the now well thumbed catalogue..

In my job, unlike in doodleland land, we have very very high standards and rules and Inspections and policies we HAVE to abide by, and one of those inspection rules is that we HAVE to have multicultral toys and equipment, depicting black people and chinese people and as many different cultures as we can incorporate into the teaching equipment of the kids in our care...we have to have black dolls and puzzles and also items showing different occupations etc .. also toys etc showing people of varying disabilities..... and so the list goes on.. oh did I forget to mention we HAVE to have books and puzzles and items to do with different religons so that the kids in my care know about all walks of life and countries and the people that live in them.... see, I told ya our rules are not like in doodleland lol.... if we dont have these things readily at hand then we dont pass our inspection....

On my last inspection when they asked about what multicultral things I had for the children I replied that I have a black friend called black Michelle that the children often see and I sometimes buy a chinky take-away on a Saturday night and I also had a draggy leg which the kids often commented upon ....... it did NOT go down to well, if fact they told me off bigtime lol, but at least I was being honest lol and certainly being myself ... I was told I needed to get some items that showed these things.... like culture and crimpleness....

So the arrival of this sales catalogue got my 'business head' turning over :)....... I had an idea and what a great idea it was lmfao....... ya see, not many people have access to these catalogues and certainly not the bog standard childminders LOL..... this was my chance....

I flicked though the catalogue with my childminder head on thinking of all the new rules that came into affect at the beginning of September, and what I KNOW many childminders would be lacking......



And this is what was making my brain go kerrr-ching lol

There was stuff that I needed for home here, and I have loads of equipment, so if even I needed it then I know for sure that other childminders would need it, and they dont have the easy route to get it like me, but now they would LOL........

So, this is what I did........ I ordered over 300 quids ($600) of items from the catalogue...remembering I was getting this 75% off so 300 quids worth was actually more like over 1000 quids ($2000) worth of stuff..... knowing I was onto a winner........ yep 300 quids worth of sales stuff lol.... I actually couldnt lose... no way no how.... it was impossible to actually lose LOL....

This is how it works..... I ordered 300 quids worth of items, from puzzles to multicultral dressing up clothes (chinky boy, african child, japenese girl), many many boxes of different play foods, chinky, japenese, italian, french playsets, little black play figures and little figures with disabilities, there was a blind figure, leg brace figure, woman with crutches and top it off an asian figure in a wheelchair which was great for two of the set categories - multicultral AND a crimple.... :) oh and some special cusions for home here.... I ordered what I needed for my own use plus tons to flog on Ebay.... I did let me matie Sharon have a butchers and order what she needed for herself as long as she only order her needs and no more.... this was MY idea and she agreed cos she was mega chufted to be able to stock up on all she needed with 75% discount...



Japenese play food set...



Froggie.. opps.... French play food set...

I knew by buying it with up to 75% off, I would at least make double if not triple what I paid.....

Three days after ordering a HUGE UPS van arrived out the front, I didnt even know we have them over here lol, and delivered the first two of 4 boxes of goodies......



This is Sprite sitting on the first of the boxes lol....

I so couldnt go wrong, ya see, ya have 30 days from receiving ya invoice before ya even have to pay, that means I would have 30 days to sell as much as I could on ebay before my bill would have to be settled....



This is the contents from the first box lol.... my sofa is 3 foot deep so you can see how many little boxes there are :)

I had ordered at least 4 of each thing I thought would sell.... and one by one I started to load them onto me ebay account.... over the past 3 weeks Ive sold 33 items and received 315 quid ($630) in money, which has now paid for all goods I had orginally ordered, so the other 43 or so items I have left is now pure profit...... some of the items sold for 4 times what I paid lol and some for at least double.... ya just type CHILDMINDER in the title and they swarm around like flies on poo :).... but get this..... the first week a couple of the items like the puzzles didnt sell as well as I wanted, dont get me wrong I STILL made money from them...... but not as much as I forsaw...... the best selling was the chinese play food sets etc....and the little crimple figures went for ridiculas amounts of money.... I paid 4 quid for the set of 4, I advertised them seperately and quadrupled me money on those alone lol good job I had/have 4 sets to flog :)........



This is one of the little figures.... that we HAVE to have within our childminding setting...

When I advertise things like this Im not so crazy with the description lol I CAN be professional as and when I so choose lol

But get this lmfao....... after a couple of weeks, I rang the catalogue up and asked if I could return some items that I realised I didnt really need......... sure they said, just box up what ya dont need/want and a bloke will come tomorrow and pick it up and we will reinvoice ya :) BINGO...... so Ive already paid off the whole invoice and still will make at least 400-600 quid ($800-1600) on the things I have still to sell.... I have 37 items still active on there this week alone and still more to put on during the coming week:)........ see I can sell sand to the arabs lol - whilst on the phone I also mentioned that the little chinese and japenese playfood sets where slightly different then in the photo in the catalogue and that even though I liked what I received I thought there would be slightly more bits..... to which she said..... let me check in the catalogue, I could hear her flicking through it and she then said, your right it is slightly different and thats not good ( I WAS MORE THEN HAPPY THOUGH) so she said, I will send you 2 more chinese sets and 2 more japenses sets to make up for the inconvenience LMFAO....... oh cripes so I have 4 more sets coming which will sell at least for 80 quid ($160)...... bring it on lmfao..... shaking me head....



These nuts and bolts look innocent enough but they are so very very educational to the younger kids... 4 different colours, 4 different shapes, 4 different sizes and only the right shape fits the right size which fits the right colour... and eye hand co-ordination to boot :)

Also, the woman opposite me whose 2 kids I just walk to school for her and for that she pays me 40 quid a week ($80) gave me a big bag of clothes and asked if they would be of any use to Sprite, as she is younger then her girl...... I tried all I could on Sprite and gave her mum all those items that fitted her, the rest of the stuff I shoved on ebay lmfao it was/is all proper makes like gap and marks and spencers and next.... they cost me nuffin, and already it looks like I will make loads on them lmfao....



Mama mia... Italian playset lmfao

I love selling on ebay and Im quite an old hand at it now with over 520 buy and sell transactions with 100% top feedback.... ya see, Im very fair with the postage and always only sell top stuff.... I could so easily make a living from ebay alone lol..... me and Colin, who is one of the nippers dads that I childmind for, have often talked at pooling our resources and just making a living from ebay lol.... we both get a buzz from it and he like me can sell ice to the eskimos.....



These threading beads shaped like fruit are just lovely, and wooden, I dont have no crap educational equipment in my house so I wouldnt sell anything crap either....

A few years back I sold a handful of little play figures that were just spare in the toybox.... they went for about 4 or 5 quid I think, and when I send the invoice to the person that bought them, I got quite a shock....... quite a shock indeed, you see, when I sell things from home, be it little toys or items surplus to need from me cupboard I ALWAYS put a witty description, I cant help it, its just me....

So when I was selling these little fairytale castle figures; king queen princess knight dragon wizard, I wrote a little story about the characters lol about how the princess wanted to marry the stableboy but the queen wouldnt allow it so she was running off to get married else where etc etc.... just stupid stuff.... well it must of caught the eye of someone very special cos the buyer not only bought the figures bur emailed me asking if I would write scripts for an animation company that he was executive animator producer on..... it was only the same company that did 'Flushed Away' and 'Wallace and Grommit'...his name is on the DVDs as one of the animators so I know it was really him..... and he sent me some wonderful photos of all the behind the screen going ons (which are all on me old computer and which I will have to get off and show ya) and loads of information, and he asked me to write little stories about different characters that he could incorporate into short animation stories........ IT COULD OF BEEN ME BIG CHANCE lol...... but I never thought I could do it..... ya see.....my father always said I was a 'GOOD FOR F'IN NUFFIN and I'D NEVER AMOUNT TO MUCH'..... so maybe he was right after all :)

When I sold some Denby plates a few months back that I no longer used but were part of a wedding gift back in 1981 lol and a very expensive gift I will add.... I knew there would be others out there with the same set with parts missing.... each plate went for about 15 quid ($30) each..... but I must of got at least 20 or more emails from people just laffing at me description lol...... I put something like 'Denby Gypsy Plater for Sale.... 1981 Wedding gift... no longer needed, seeing as how I have got rid of the husband I thought I would get rid of these plates to... but unlike my X these plates have faired much better, no cracks or chips where as he is old and decrepid and wrinkled with chips and is very much broken'....... LMFAO..... the emails I got from people just laffing at the descriptions were well funny.....

Anyways.... ya see, Im a surviver, and I always seem to be able to make money, its a knack I have..... I wish sometimes I didnt have it..... cos if things aint screwed down I will probably always think about flogging it on ebay lol......

I will shove the money I make in me travel savings account for maybe travelling to the states next year..... and Im weird cos once I put money in certain accounts I DONT take it out for any other reason then for what its in their for....

Waffling on way to much now lmfao.....boring stuff that I know no one but me is interested in lol..... but I aint bovvered.....if you have read down this far you are either mentally challenged or just plain crazy lmfao

x

Fruit and Veggies - 5 A Day......Nuts and Knockers...

Ok....... This is long and probably boring but just the funniest ending, so TRY and slog on to the bottom lol...

We eat loads of fresh veggie and fruit in our house, I cant remember the last time I bought anything that was ready made or processed.... I cook EVERY day from scratch... usually things like huge bowls of pasta or ginormous dishes of garlic chicken lasagne or shepherds pie with sweet potatoe mash topping sprinkled with cheese, or lentil and garlic mushroom gratin with stilton topping... or massive casseroles cooked all day in me slow cooker.. and Sunday roasts at least once a week and and and lol....



Homemade cheese and onion flan.. ok ok so its in a heart shape pan, just call me romantic LOL

I try to buy me veggies and fruit from farmers markets and I LOVE to buy bits and bobs off little gingam covered tables outside the cottages at Southwick where the occupants have grown the stuff in their back gardens.... I also try as best I can to use our little village greengrocers to buy some of me bits instead of the little grocery shop that sells everything, ya know the old saying 'use it or loose it' and I would hate to see out little greengrocer shop close through lack of use....



Homemade sweet potatoe and onion curry simmering away in me slow cooker....... Mmmmmmmm we are HUGE curry eaters in this house :)

Anyways..... I also everyso often order a box of organic grown veggies from Riverford, which is this company that supply right proper fresh veggies and they deliver to ya door free of charge.... they are quite expensive but, oh jebus the taste is proper, ya know, how veggies should taste....

Me last box from them though was a little disappointing, so I aint had them for a few months..........



Homemade garlic chicken lasagne..... this is to die for..



Brocolli and mature cheddar quiche.... I have to make at least 6 of these a week for various sons to take to school, college or work for lunchtime...

But, the week before last a leaflet plonked through me letter box advertising another home delivery on 5-Aday veggies and fruit....... the government over here are trying to tell people that they should eat at least 5 portions of fruit and veg aday, and to stop all the junk rubbish that people are pumping into their kids.....



My homeade Egyptian Lentil Soup bubbling away on the hob.... I could eat this every day its sooooooooo scrummie.... this was a 2 gallon pot to keep us going for a while....

Do you know, when I take me minded kids shopping, we have such fun, BUT, Im amazed at how little they know their fruit and veg, oh they know the colours but some of them aint got a clue as to what they are called....... which lead me to ask some of the parents what they actually fed their kids for their dinners..... to say I was shocked is an understatement.........

Two of the nippers whom will remain nameless only have rubbish like - chicken nuggets (NOT homemade like I make) and chips.... do you know what those processed nuggets are made of, cos it certainly aint proper chicken (sorry Janet).... its things like crunched up beak and bumholes and nostrils and ears and bones with a tiny amount of chicken meat........ and fish fingers and chips (I think doodles call them fish sticks).... well unless ya buy the expensive fish fingers they aint got much fish in them lol..... and pizza and chips and sausage and chips, and I dont mean the real proper sausages that I buy to put in Toad in the Hole, I mean they buy those pink wobbly sausages that are made of MRM which means mechanically removed meat.... which means they get a pressure hose on the carcas of the pig and pressure wash all the tiny bits of meat off the bone and the bums and ears and noses and it all ends up in a slurry sludge and then they press the water out of it and make sausages from the pink wobbly stuff..... a bit like doodle hotdogs..... ewwww

Some of these kids never see fresh veggies let alone fruit at home..... all Infant schools here give the kids 2 pieces of fruit a day at school FREE as part of our GET HEALTHY thing over here....

Anyways, people are intitled to feed their own kids whatever they choose, who am I to judge, I just know that I like to know that my lads since tiny have had the bestest in the food department that I could offer, with homemade almost everything.... dont get me wrong they have had bought pizza before but its usually a treat... and I know when they was younger kids and they wanted kids home for tea (meaning teatime NOT a cuppa tea lol) I would have to rush out and buy some rubbish food cos there is no way they, the kids they bought home, would of eaten lentil and stilton (stinkie cheese) bake.....

So, anyways....this leaflet that I found shoved through me door was for a different company touting for business with the promise of only the freshest stuff and free delivery at a time to suit YOU/me.... at great prices.... with the offer of 20% off ya first order.... so I thought I would big it a bash just to see if it was any good.... ya can have a small, medium or large box with stuff of their choosing or ya can from a list make ya own, but I plumped for just choosing a LARGE box of goodies at 20 quid ($40) not forgetting the 20% off....... I'll try anything once and I always like to give new people and small businesses a chance..... and I spend way more then 20 quid a week on fruit and veg..

So, I emailed in me order, clicked send and was emailed back saying me boxes would be delivered on Wednesday (last week) and was there any special instructions..... so instead of emailing back I rang them, sometimes I like to put a voice to a leaflet LOL.... the bloke was well nice and I told him I was in and out most of the day so if they came they would be 'knocking their nuts off at the front door' cos I would be either out or in the kitchen out the back and I wouldnt hear the door, so to just come around the back and if no one in just leave it near the back door...... simple right? :)

Well the bloke came last Wednesday and he did come around the back like I had requested and I was in and I didnt hear the door lol..... he was really smiling when I opened the back door for him to carry the boxes in, he was a really nice bloke, right proper chatty...... and mumbled something about 'you made everyone laff so hard in the office, you really made our day' I asked him why, and he just said 'check ya invoice'...and PLEASE say you will order again..... we need people like you..... and he buggered off.... I couldnt for the life of me think what the hell he was talking about.....

DISAPPOINTED WITH THE BOXES I WAS NOT........ bloody hell..... the following photos so do not do the boxes justice....



This is what was in the box, and Im sure to of forgotten something....

Fruit box..

6 oranges - bunch of banannas - plums - melon - 6 pomegranits - 6 Avocardos - 10 English Russet apples - 8 other apples - 8 pears - and a bag of the biggest black grapes Ive ever seen....

Veggie box ..

A bunch of giant tomatoes still on the vine - baby carrots with the green tops still on - bigger carrots without their tops - cabbage - onions - brocolli - butternut squash - 3 peppers - cucumber - radishes - bag of large baking spuds - bag of what we call new potatoes, those little ones for salads - celery - leeks - cauliflower - Swede - turnip - parsnips - lettuce - and I know Ive forgotten something lol

All that for 20 quid.... actually for only £15.96 cos of the discount...... mega chufted I was....

Anyways, I was curious as to what the bloke meant when he said I had made them laff in the office, I didnt understand, I had only spoken to someone for just a few minutes on the phone....

So.... I find the invoice amongst the veggies and I have a look.... OMG...... hahahahahahaha see if you can see what the bloke was laffing about....... cos it well made me laff me socks off in me kitchen after I read it....... here is the invoice.... name and address covered over to protect my identity LMFAO....



Can ya see........ can ya?... click to enlarge and look in the box under where it says 'Special Instructions'.... LMFAO...... hahahahahaha

It says - ** Please leave around by the back door if no answer from KNOCKING YOUR NUTS OFF at the front door :) **

They had taken me instructions word for word LMFAO...... I think they liked me... Jebus they like me, holy cow, someone likes me lol

Why oh why cant I just be NORMAL for once, just for one day, or even half a day LOL......

There I told you it was boring, and way to much Twaddle for a dark late Monday evening....

ps..... all the above photos are some of the things I made last week, no one died in the eating of my cooking.... or even had the squirts.... and every plate was licked clean LOL saves on the washing up I says lol....

HE grew - WE scrumped - WE laffed - HE didnt.......

Ok....... Im a bad blobber...... aint had time to scratch me bum of late.....



These nippers in me house every day are part of the reason why.....



And this mob on the noon time Infant School Pickup (I borrowed me maties car)..



An LOADS of this - speculating to accumalating.... (story for another blob maybe)..



As 3 times a week the above....

And what with the house and the garden and me chickens and cats and lizards and washing and cooking and cleaning...... and trampoling club runs and and and ......

Well, I aint really got an excuse why I aint blobbed or got around to emails or flittered around everyones blobs...

BUT, I will tell ya something that I thought was wellabit funny that happened last week......

I think by now most know that me and me twat neighbour dont really see eye to eye.... I fink he hates me LMFAO.... on saying that, he does take in parcels and things for me, ya know, ones that need signing for and cant be left around the back..... except, he dont give them to me straight away when I get home, he sometimes makes me wait a few days and then tells me he has a parcel for me.... the tosser did it last week with a parcel from the States..... I almost wrapped the dam parcel around his smug ugly fat head when he smurked at me whilst handing over the parcel 2 days late......

Anyways, he might of been trying to get his own back cos of what happened a few days previous.....

Let me explain.... me twat neighbour has an apple tree in his garden and its right next to the fence and most of the branches dangle over the fence into my garden...... its a really pretty smallish tree and it offers shade when we sit at our garden table....

Anyways, this year it had an abundance of apples...... more then ever.... maybe it was cos of the crap summer, I dont know, but I know the little tree was ladened down with big scrummy tasting apples........ and how do we know that they are scrummie, well, cos I would just reach up and pick meself an apple when I needed one.....



Example of one of the little dangling branches hanging over my side of the fence..



See, an abundance of apples :)..



A bumper crop.....

Well, the funniest thing of all was that almost all the apples on me neighbours tree were on my side..... maybe its cos the sun would rise this side or maybe it was cos the little apple tree liked me talking to the little robins that would sit in the tree in the spring, I dont really know why, but most of the crop of apples would hanging over into my garden....

As the apples started to get ripe and began to drop into my garden, Janet, Mabel and Cedric would peck them so that I couldnt use them, so I says to my Jacob last week.... hey Jacob, do me a favour will ya, climb on the garden table and reach up and pick ALL the apples that you can reach, before they all drop and become spoilt fallers.......

He said, they aint our apples mum....... I says, what dangles my side of the fence is by law mine for the picking LOL...... SOOOooo Jacob scrumped the apples and handed them to me to put in a bucket...... bloody bucketfuls we picked LOL...

I made loads of apple pies for the freezer and gave some of me maties bags of them........ and then I thought...... I stick some in a pot out on me front wall and put a FOR SALE sign on them.........

OMG I laffed and laffed until I think a bit of wee came out.......

I was putting a pot of apples out the front when me twat neighbour pulls up in his car and climbs out and gets a big box out of the boot of his car...... now, we do say hello to each other even though we both know we dislike each other immensely LOL.....

Me - Hi Dave (his name is NOT Dave but I call him that to annoy him)..

Him - Hello, and dont call me Dave, you KNOW my name is Steve..

Me - Oh yeah, I dont know why I always forget, I shouldnt cos its such a common name... (grin)..

Him - I just bought myself a pressie..

Me - Whatcha buy?

Him - A juicer...

Me - Oh we have a juicer, we dont use it much, you could of borrowed ours... what ya thinking of juicing..

Him - Well, I aint needed one before, but with all the many apples this year, I thought it would be nice to make APPLE juice...

Me - *gulp ~ taking one step to the left so he cant see what I have on me front wall*.. oh Dave, oops sorry, I mean Steve... dont think apples are good for the juicer you should go buy some strawberries or dingleberries from the greengrocers... apples aint no good for juicing...

Him - Our apples will be just fine, Her Indoors is real excited about the thought of fresh apple juice...

AND OFF HE GOES IN HIS FRONT DOOR.......... me, well, I scarper indoors as quick as I can and await the KNOCK ON ME DOOR which I KNOW WAS COMING.......

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK........ I open the door....

Me - Hi Dave, oops I mean Steve..

Him - *very red faced*... did you pick our apples...

Me - When you say 'our' you mean mine and yours right?..

Him - NO I mean Did you pick MY apples... from MY apple tree, which is in MY garden..

Me - Oh, do you mean the apple tree up this end of the garden..

Him - I only have the one apple tree..

Me - Then, no, I didnt pick them...

Him - Have all MY apples fallen off MY tree overnight and ALL fallen in your garden (said in a well sarcastic manner LOL)..

Me - well, a few did fall during the week but me chickens pecked them, I can go get them for you if your that desperate...

Him - So, where did you get the apples in the pot that you have for sale on your front wall..

Me - Apples? oh those apples...... Jacob found them...

Him - THEY ARE MY APPLES AINT THEY? YOU STOLE MY APPLES OFF MY TREE...

Me - Well, not technically, you see they have been dangling my side of the fence now for weeks and we thought you obviously didnt want them cos they had started to fall and ruin...

Him - I was waiting for them to ripen and to buy a juicer so we could pick them and now there is not one apple left on the tree.. (face bright red and getting angry)..

Me - Now Dave, thats a fib isnt it, there are a few at the top that we couldnt reach LMFAO.....

Him - I DONT THINK YOUR FUNNY...

Me - No, your right Dave, oops I mean Steve... but your more then welcome to buy a pot of them off me for a quid....

Him - looking at my front wall and noticing the pot of apples have a FOR SALE sign..... ARE THOSE MY APPLES......

Me - Well not technically, but seeing as we're neighbours you can have the pot for just 50p, thats half price...... thats well a bargain...

Him - STUFF YOUR APPLES UP YOUR ARSE... *crazy expression on his face*

Me - Oh, so they're mine now are they....... I can let you have some blackberries that I picked from the lanes.... ya can have them and the apples for a pound...



HE WENT IN HIS HOUSE AND SLAMMED THE DOOR WITH SUCH FORCE IT ALMOST COME OFF ITS HINGES....

HE grew WE scrumped WE laffed HE didnt.......... some people have no sense of humour...... I did have 4 buckets of apples on the table which I would of given him, if he wasnt so mean spirited LOL..

We did only sell 7 pots of apples lmfao not gonna get rich on those pickings are we, I wonder if I should ask him if he could train his gooseberry bushes a little nearer the fence for next year...

I think as the months and years go by he is warming to me a little, what do you think?

Enuff boring Twaddle for a dark Wednesday evening.....

x

Anyone Fancy.........

Ok..........Sorry I aint been around anyones blobs much or even caught up with all me emails.... Im sorry....... just call me a slagbag... just been way way busy, what with trying to be a substitute mum to 2 little nippers that have started school...... over here they start off just mornings, so Im not only over the school in the mornings and as schools out, Im also having to go over the Infants at noon to pick up J & T the twins, L, and A.... cos their parents have to work so its up to me to settle the little darlings into school routine and be all happy and excited when they come running out to me at noon, arms filled with book bags, paintings, lunches, backpacks, and listen to them jabber on about their morning at school and tease and joke around with them.... all the while feeling sad that their parents are not getting to experience these oh so precious 'starting school' days.... but happy that they love me enough to come running out into my arms full of laughter and giggles..... so I do the school pickups and me matie Sharon does the lunchtime pre-school pickups then we meet for lunch either at my house with about 10 kids or at her house with 10 kids LOL.....

I feel blessed that I get to settle these tiny tots (4 year olds) into school and felt so proud today when Alex came running out to me with a beautiful picture he had painted for ME....... which he prompty gave his mum when she picked him up from me at 6pm LMFAO ..... little sod LOL his mum is dutch and its just so funny, I find meself talking to her in that sloobie doodie up and down singing accent lmfao, we both end up laffing so hard LOL...... bloody foreigners....

So..... anyways that is why Ive not been around as much, also trying to fit in 3 hospital appointments a week ..... but busy is good, and busy pays the bills and puts food on the table.....and makes me forget for a little the empty ache where me soul once was....

Anyways........... Anyone fancy coming for a lunchtime drink tomorrow, and NO, I dont necessarily mean a beer or a spirit, ya can have a fizzy drink or squash if ya like..... cos this is where we are off to tomorrow lunchtime with 8 kids in tow.....



This is The Royal Oak at Langstone harbour, which is about 13 minutes drive away :)..... and that on the right of it is the Old Mill where someone lives, it has no sails nowadays, and some famous bloke years ago use to live in it, at full tide it is cut off and one can only access it via the old Puffing Billy Railroad track which is now a nature reserve which runs behind it.....



You can see how cut off the mill house is at high tide.... I can remember many a time when some unsuspecting holdiay maker had dared to park their car down on the foreshore and go in the pub for dinner etc, only to come out when the tide has come in to find there car almost submerged by the water LMFAO...... funny funny, that will learn em... dam tourists lol



This is what its usually like during any summer weekend, except this summer was crap weather so everyone would of been inside the real old pub..

I love this pub so for many reasons...... as kids we would be taken their by me parents, and whilst they visited with friends in the pub, us kids (kids of the friends to) would all swim in the harbour.... there use to be a little wooden raft chained to the seabed just off the pub which we would swim out to...... Im talking about when I was 7ish I suppose...... no one checked up on us all evening lol..... and I know from experience what a dangerous place it can be when the tide turns and starts to go out..... when the tide is out its just mudflats and when we use to swim in the waters there, we would be to scared to put our feet down cos of the stinking mud on the seabed LOL....



This is the same pub when the tide is right out LOL.... and it stinks to high heaven....

On the opposite side of the road from The Royal Oak are the cockle mudflats where we use to have to go cockling with me father when we was nippers.... but thats a story for another day.....funny and scarey and life threatening....

The Royal Oak use to have a pot bellied pig in the back beer garden, and I remember it use to eat all the scraps off the resturant tables - this pub does the most amazing grub..... the little road at Langstone that leads down to the pub has a beautiful ancient row of terrace houses, and I remember this really old lady use to sell tiny tubs of fresh cockles from her open front door....

The photo above are off the internet as my photos are still on me old computer and as yet I aint had a chance to swap over all the computer cables to transfer them onto this new computer....

The picture is actually taken from the carpark of The Ship Inn pub which is just across the waterway from The Royal Oak...... another lovely old pub with great grub.... Langstone is the gateway onto Hayling Island.... which has a pub right on the beach which also holds such wonderful memories for me, and hopefully now for my lads, but again, those memories are stories for another day.....



This to is a lovely old pub, not as old as The Royal Oak and very different inside.....

We aint just going to Langstone for lunch, we will actually take the nippers along the nature reserve which stretchs right along the coast to the next harbour village of Emsworth...... more memories there for me.....sigh.....

All this of course IF IT AINT RAINING........ wish me luck that I dont lose one of the nippers off the mudflats lmfao.....

Maybe, over the coming weeks, I'll take ya all on a pub crawl of the 7 (yes bloody 7) pubs here in me village..... all over 150 years old except one......

I know if I EVER get any doodles maties come to visit, I will be their personal tour guide, there is just so much to see and do in my part of the world, mostly old and ancient, and I dont just mean the pubs LOL - I was trying to explain to me matie JBelle about all the amazing sites and places here on the South Coast of England...

Enough Twaddle for a Wednesday evening, now that Ive bored ya to death LOL

x